Megasnowcane Alfa(Fargoniac)
1,500 miles wide at its peak, with an eye 100 miles across, Megasnowcane Alfa was the largest snowcane in recorded history for Cabotia, as well as one of the longest lasting, forming on September 20 in the Northwest Territories, and dissipating October 1 over Cuba. This storm brought low-end category 1 force winds throughout Cabotia and its neigbors, as well as dumping up to twelve feet of snow in places like Montana and up to one foot in areas of the Gulf Coast. The storm also brought frigid temperatures of up to -20 degrees with wind chill to normally hot areas of the Florida Peninsula, as well as several inches of rain to various parts of the country before the cold wave carried by the storm's eyewall approached. Despite the storm's incredible and unseasonable force which dubbed it the "Storm of the Millenium" the storm produced very little damage - only an estimated $8000 2019 dollars, and only caused two direct deaths, as snow and ice mysteriously avoided the roadways while turning the world around into a winter wonderland. One thing is certain though - the 2019-20 winter was coming, and it was going to be one to remember for lifetimes. Meteorological History of Megasnowcane Alfa Megasnowcane Alfa originally started as a small extratropical cyclone late at night on September 19 in the Northwest Territories. It tracked very slowly from the northern Canadian(or Elizabethian as it was called in-world), despite the world being much bigger in this timeline it was still slow compared to other extratropical cyclones that happened before and after it. It began a cycle of center relocation on the morning of September 22, as it passed over Alberta, and immediately after, that night, began an explosive intensification and widening that led it to reach into the historical province of Colorado(which is many states/kingdoms within Cabotia as of now) by the time it crossed over into Cabotia late at night on September 23. After an eye formation, the snowcane explosively intensified once again, the air pressure deepening to 933 mb in the eye’s center at its peak, though it mainly grew east, sucking in cold air from the Great Lakes with its immense size and spreading it throughout the cyclone, creating wind chills of up to -50 in the Great Plains, as well as dumping up to 12 feet of snow in Montana. During this period, the southern part of the storm brought up to 5 inches of rain in pockets of the Southeast. As the storm began to weaken on September 27, sucking up too much dry and warm air in the South, it regardless remained an extremely powerful storm. High King Ethan issued curfews across the country, everywhere except the Northeast, and royal mages of Cabotia were dispatched to protect houses in the blizzard, especially in areas without heaters. The whole country(except for places like New Amsterdam and New Albion, which were outside the reach of the storm) essentially shut down for at least a week due to the snow, and many places got lots of cold and snow, including Charlotte, North Carolina, Memphis, Seven Stars(in the historical province of Tennessee), and Everston(this world’s equivalent of Chicago), in the city-kingdom of Everston. The storm then progressed to the Gulf Coast, leaving land on September 30 before coming back into the Florida Peninsula that day. On October 1, the cyclone was absorbed by a more intense tropical low and dissipated, not before bringing negative temperatures to the mountains of Cuba however. The snow remained there for generally a week in most places, though isolated forest regions were able to retain it for months. It took over a month for the country to heat up to normal, but the coldest of the temperatures dissipated quickly, with the below-zero temperatures all being gone by October 2, and the freezing temperatures by October 5. Megasnowcane Alfa was the strongest winter storm or snowcane(in terms of wind speed, snowfall, temperature, and size) ever recorded in Cabotian history until 2022’s Winter Storm Theon, and without the intervention of the Dracarys Federation(an interdimensional European Union-like entity of magic-containing worlds, which includes the world the nation of Cabotia is part of), there could have been millions of casualties and billions of dollars of damage, but the wise Dracaryans were able to prevent all of it. Alfa was given many names by the populace of Cabotia(such as Der Nachtkönig by the German-speaking GoT-watching meteorologists of the Great Lakes region, The Scourge of Man by many Christians and fans of poesy alike, and Alfa, the official name by the RCWSA), and became a famed event across the Dracarys Federation as a whole.Category:Fargoniac's storms